Llanelli Wetlands 2015
Ducks and geese and ducks and geese and ducks. And swans.
The Llanelli Wetlands sit on the edge of the Llwchwr estuary (in front of The Beacon on Rhossili Down, 193 metres, and Llanmadoc Hill, 186 metres, both on the Gower peninsula), where there is an extensive marshland. A large part has been converted into artificial salt and freshwater ponds and lakes. Several of the smaller ponds are fenced into separate walk-through enclosures, each with a collection of water birds representative of the birds from various continents. Or at least that is the plan. But these birds can fly, and they have other ideas, so they may be found in any of the enclosures.
Gower, seen over the extensive mudflats of the Llwchwr.
Red-breasted goose, from the Eurasian arctic.
Wigeon, a native duck.
White-headed duck, from the hotter Mediterranean countries, and Asian deserts.
Beautifully feathered Hawaian goose, known as nēnē in Hawaiian. These in particular had decided to visit every other enclosure.
Australian black swan drinking. The serrated beak is used to catch food.
What. Are you. Looking at?
Common shelduck, part way between a goose and a duck.
Male tufted duck (a native duck), hair slicked back, out to find ladies.
Gah!
Whooper swan moulting, and greylag goose. Both native birds.
American flamingo, with one in the classic single-leg pose. The intensely coloured adults are accompanied by a grey juvenile. The colour comes from chemicals they extract and process from their food of algae, which they filter out of the water. The young feed by drinking a secretion from the parents' mouths.
Dark shaded underside of the wings.
Bizarrely contorted neck.
Robin. Wetlands don't have to be just for water birds.
Bumblebee fighting through the grass.
Mute swan, another native.
Searching for food.
Cormorant drying off in the sun, with shelducks in the background.
Presumably great cormorants. The dark two are adults, the white-fronted one is a juvenile, and the ones on either side are nearly adult.
A late arrival.
Finals, three greens.
Touchdown.
Tiny water spider, the only spider that lives fully underwater (though some others can hide underwater for defence). This amazing little spider has hairs on its abdomen, which trap an air bubble, allowing the spider to breathe (the lungs of a spider are on the abdomen). They even create a web attached to underwater plants, and fill it with air that they collect from the surface, so that they can live in it.
Female great diving beetle, a very large beetle which lives underwater. They may fly between water sources that reflect moonlight, where they hunt for fish and other aquatic animals.
They swim using these powerful hairy legs, sweeping them like oars. They breath using air that they trap under their wings.
European fingernail clam. The feeding siphon can be seen as a pair of transparent tubes, with a longer outlet tube.
The Llanelli Wetlands sit on the edge of the Llwchwr estuary (in front of The Beacon on Rhossili Down, 193 metres, and Llanmadoc Hill, 186 metres, both on the Gower peninsula), where there is an extensive marshland. A large part has been converted into artificial salt and freshwater ponds and lakes. Several of the smaller ponds are fenced into separate walk-through enclosures, each with a collection of water birds representative of the birds from various continents. Or at least that is the plan. But these birds can fly, and they have other ideas, so they may be found in any of the enclosures.
Gower, seen over the extensive mudflats of the Llwchwr.
Red-breasted goose, from the Eurasian arctic.
Wigeon, a native duck.
White-headed duck, from the hotter Mediterranean countries, and Asian deserts.
Beautifully feathered Hawaian goose, known as nēnē in Hawaiian. These in particular had decided to visit every other enclosure.
Australian black swan drinking. The serrated beak is used to catch food.
What. Are you. Looking at?
Common shelduck, part way between a goose and a duck.
Male tufted duck (a native duck), hair slicked back, out to find ladies.
Gah!
Whooper swan moulting, and greylag goose. Both native birds.
American flamingo, with one in the classic single-leg pose. The intensely coloured adults are accompanied by a grey juvenile. The colour comes from chemicals they extract and process from their food of algae, which they filter out of the water. The young feed by drinking a secretion from the parents' mouths.
Dark shaded underside of the wings.
Bizarrely contorted neck.
Robin. Wetlands don't have to be just for water birds.
Bumblebee fighting through the grass.
Mute swan, another native.
Searching for food.
Cormorant drying off in the sun, with shelducks in the background.
Presumably great cormorants. The dark two are adults, the white-fronted one is a juvenile, and the ones on either side are nearly adult.
A late arrival.
Finals, three greens.
Touchdown.
Tiny water spider, the only spider that lives fully underwater (though some others can hide underwater for defence). This amazing little spider has hairs on its abdomen, which trap an air bubble, allowing the spider to breathe (the lungs of a spider are on the abdomen). They even create a web attached to underwater plants, and fill it with air that they collect from the surface, so that they can live in it.
Female great diving beetle, a very large beetle which lives underwater. They may fly between water sources that reflect moonlight, where they hunt for fish and other aquatic animals.
They swim using these powerful hairy legs, sweeping them like oars. They breath using air that they trap under their wings.
European fingernail clam. The feeding siphon can be seen as a pair of transparent tubes, with a longer outlet tube.